Rhett Butler

Rhett K. Butler (1827-) was an American businessman and a Captain in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was the third husband of Scarlett O'Hara.

Biography
Rhett Butler was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1827, the son of Steven and Eleanor Butler. He was born into a respectable family, but he was disowned by his father for refusing to marry according to his father's wishes, and he instead set off on his own and made a fortune in the California Gold Rush of 1849. He gained wealth and success as a trader but had a poor reputation, and he was unpopular for predicting that the Union would win the American Civil War, claiming that the American South only had cotton, slaves, and arrogance against the resource-rich and more populous Union. In 1861, he met Scarlett O'Hara and Melanie Hamilton during Melanie's engagement celebration, and he became reacquainted with O'Hara in 1862. By 1863, he was friends with both O'Hara and Hamilton and became a frequent visitor to their house. Following the 1864 Battle of Atlanta, Butler joined the Confederate States Army, serving until the end of the war. Butler later married O'Hara after the death of her second husband, Frank Kennedy, seeking only to have financial stability; Butler had a net worth of $500,000 ($8,356,818 as of 2017). Butler later drunkenly raped O'Hara after discovering that her true love was Melanie Hamilton's husband Ashley Wilkes, and he later apologized and offered her a divorce, but she refused to be disgraced. He went on to go on an extended business trip to London, and, on his return, he discovered that O'Hara had become pregnant. An argument ensued, and O'Hara had a miscarriage after falling down the stairs; their first child, Bonnie Blue, died in a horse riding accident as Scarlett recovered. Scarlett and Rhett then visited Hamilton as she lay on her deathbed following a miscarriage, and Rhett stormed off to his home in Atlanta, telling O'Hara that he didn't care about what she did, or how she would manage.